8 votes

Nanoplastic ingestion causes neurological deficits

2 comments

  1. [2]
    streblo
    Link
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    Microplastics, or plastic particulates measuring less than five micrometers, are a growing environmental concern. These particulates disrupt reproduction, immune cell and microbiome composition in the gut, and neural and endocrine function in aquatic species and laboratory animals.1-4 Now, a new study published in Cell Reports suggests that the smaller the plastic, the greater the problem.

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    Recent studies have shown that inflammatory responses in the intestines affect the brain, so Wang and his team next assessed the gut-brain axis. After two months of daily ingestion of nanoplastics at the estimated human consumption dose, nanoplastic-exposed mice exhibited reduced cognition and short-term memory as assessed by standard neurological assessments such as the open-field test, novel object recognition assay, and the Morris water maze. These plastic-fed mice also had more activated microglia and astrocytes as well as Th17-differentiated T cells than nontreated mice.

    Wang and his colleagues also observed elevated IL-1β in the brains of plastic-fed mice, but did not find IL-1β-producing cells in the brain, which suggested that these effects resulted from IL-1β-producing macrophages in the gut. “All these changes associated with brain function damage,” Wang said.

    4 votes
    1. Amarok
      Link Parent
      So there actually is something in the water supply that actually is making us more and more stupid all the time. This explains rather a lot about the world. I guess learning the lesson with leaded...

      So there actually is something in the water supply that actually is making us more and more stupid all the time. This explains rather a lot about the world. I guess learning the lesson with leaded gasoline wasn't good enough, so we get to go through it yet again. I suppose it's no big deal, though. Nature will provide bacteria that can consume plastic eventually, and it'll all get eaten up. Future archaeologists will pull plastic samples out of ice cores at the poles and wonder wtf happened.

      4 votes